Sausages and other similar tubular type foods are typically produced by stuffing the food stuff, such as sausage meat, into a flexible elongated casing. In this process, the casing, which may be a natural casing, is closed at one end, such as by tying the end shut, and slipped around a horn shaped extruder which loads the food into the casing. Once the casing is full, the remaining end is closed in an appropriate manner. In many instances, the food is typically cooked, smoked or cured before it is packaged and distributed to the public.
In the case of sausage and similar meats, the length of these tubes of food can be several feet long, typically ranging from 10 to 15 feet. When natural casings are used, the lengths of each casing can vary significantly. In order to cook, smoke cure sausages of such lengths, the sausages are arranged on a horizontal support, commonly known as a stick, in multiple loops. In order to ensure complete and uniform cooking, smoking or curing, the loops of sausage must not touch each other.
Typically, this looping of lengths of sausages is done manually, with the worker holding the entire length of the sausage as he or she wraps it around the stick. The stick is then placed on a conveyor. Typically, another worker then arranges the loops to be equally spaced and roughly equal in length. Usually, the worker is arranging sausages on several moving sticks at one time.
This labor intensive process is not only time consuming, but can cause medical problems and injury to the worker due to the required repetitive movements of the hands and arms. Such problems include a variety of inflammation and swelling problems which can cause pain, weakness, numbness or tingling sensations which are frequently referred to as repetitive stress injuries. Among the more serious repetitive stress injuries is carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a swelling of the nerves at the point where they pass through the wrist.
Due to the medical problems in the meat industry, OSHA is making demands on meat packers to modify their present methods in order to reduce or eliminate these problems. Thus, there is a substantial need for an alternative method of arranging the flexible casings of food stuff, e.g. sausages, on supports which will reduce or eliminate the risk of medical injury to the worker.